Hi again,

We are more similar than I thought, cause I am in the same position about my partner, I might have written somewhere the exact same words you said- he is lovely and so supportive, but he is not my therapist and I definitely don’t want him to be. I don’t want him to also dedicate his life ‘googling’ anxiety and threat me with fear and caution 24/7.

5-HTP has huge interaction with a lot of medications and supplements, especially st. john’s worth, and when I did my research, some people don’t feel good after using it (though there are many who love it). Inositol has very little possible side effects and no interactions, but you should take great quantities of it (Medical studies say 14 grams per day have same effect as SSRI, but most people are fine with 2-3. But it can be costly). I wouldn’t recommend st. John’s Worth, it doesn’t help with ‘serious’ anxiety, and it has also bad interactions with a lot of medication and ‘calming’ supplements. It can actually increase anxiety when combined unproperly. Valerian root is also something that many people with anxiety don’t find very effective. You’d laugh, but simple mint tea does the magic for me sometimes:)

And yes, sometimes being practical is the best cure…Doing more and thinking less. As I said, you can’t think your way out of anxiety. Cause anxiety itself is overthinking 🙂 Maybe sometimes it’s better to make a little agreement with yourself… First get ‘serenity’ by ‘attacking’ the physical plane (with exercise, balanced nutrition, meditation, yoga, breathing exercises). And after that think.. Unfortunately I had to take medication in the beginning (bromazepam), and had the worst withdrawal you can imagine after that (withdrawal is worse than anxiety, even when you tapper slowly like me ). I keep blaming myself for the pills as you do yourself for the anxiety. But to be honest, they did give me the ‘serenity’ to look for ways to help myself. I couldn’t have done it with my anxious brain at the time.

And at last but not least- maybe we are just bit more emotional, so what? I am fine that I’ll feel anxious on job interview, when I fight with a friend, when a bad surprise occurs.. It’s not a disease to ‘freak out’ every now and then when life gets hard.. it’s normal 🙂 So when someone asks me -are you fine now- of course I am not fine all the time, nobody is! And I still get urges to panic from time to time.. But I just slow my breathing, start counting green/blue stuff around..lol 🙂 Get bit calmer and distracted and then i congratulate myself 🙂 And the best thing about being ‘practical’.. it does give you the ‘illusion’ that you are in control 🙂